Rime

Rihanna debuted her anticipated first collection for her Fenty X Puma collection last season at New York Fashion Week. For spring/summer 2017 the singer chose to show her second collection at Paris Fashion Week, which makes sense since the inspiration for the collection came from Versailles and one of its infamous inhabitants, Marie Antoinette. Rihanna channelled those influences into a contemporary way, her way. She took a fresh and feminine approach this time around, using Marie Antoinette as a bad gal muse. There were corsets styled in an off beat way, an aesthetic close to the pop star’s own personal style, corsets were paired with oversized brocade boiler-suits and at other times with skintight flared track pants. Deconstructed bustiers and corsets were tied together with lace, worn over dresses, sweatshirts or worn alone as bra tops. Rihanna brought street style to the collection the way she does in her everyday, playing with proportions. Her last collection was dark, and marched to a gothic beat, while the latest collection mirrored her softer side. There were pink lace du-rags, pink lace gym shorts, pink sheer anoraks with ruffle details, pink baseball caps tied with ribbons and pink peplum hoodies. There were soft and hard juxtaposition throughout the collection, even with the menswear, like the floral brocade boiler suit worn by a male model. There was a sporty-street vibe with a heavy influence of 18th century french culture, but in some way the models were transformed into Rihanna, or a version of her, both male and female models had her same commanding presence on the runway. Ruffles were heavy throughout, and didn’t stop at the womenswear pieces. Pale pink parkas featured ruffle trimming, while army green backpacks took on the ruffle detailing and were worn by male models. The oversized and extended baggy silhouettes went nicely with the romanticism of the collection as bubbly refreshing tones of purple, cream, pink and green flirted with each other.

adidas is one of those brands known for their celebrity collaboration, from Kanye to Rita Ora. For the Pharrell Williams and the Hu NMD collection, adidas builds on past projects. The Hu NMD line is a platform that showcases different stories with one central theme, that everyone is human, which reflects in the name of the collaboration and one of the campaign slogans, “Play for the human race.” The Hu collection is said to represent Pharell’s vision of connecting people through love, energy and passion, which is present in the bold colors, and clothing. It started with the bold yellow design with distinct detail on the laces that said, “Human Race” in bold letters. The response from the public lead to the production of a full collection. The collection builds off of the limited edition NMD, it includes the bold colors for the footwear, while the apparel exudes charisma and charm, that celebrates cultural diversity and understanding around the world, making it all very dynamic. The collection’s apparel features flags, stripes and translations of the words Humana Race in English, French and Japanese. Zip-up jackets are detailed with stiched on badges and reflective materials, while tees, shorts and leggings take on a grey, blue and red color palette. A stand out of the range is the three stripe firebird track jacket with reflective 3-stripe branding, embroidered Japanese characters and heat-trasnfered reflective slogans. The sneakers color range are Scarlet, Black, Sharp Blue, Green and Tangerine. They feature the adidas Primeknit upper, white boost midsoles and a distinct lacing system where the laces go through the stabilizer of the sneaker’s cage.

MSGM’s unexpected mashup aesthetic is flawless, mixing the unexpected. Massimo Giorgetti takes the season’s biggest trends and gives them a fresh look. For this season he used fashion’s current obsession of athleisure and ruffles. Drawstring ties, ruffles and netting are put together, as Giorgetti uses his eye for color and styling to make them all look cool. Girly ruffled silhouettes are paired with sportswear silhouettes. The vibrant colors and bold patterns heightens the active wear aspect of the collection. Spandex biker shorts are worn under feminine ruffle skirts, as flyaway track pants, that have a sense of sophistication to them, are paired with argyle sweaters. Some of the stand outs included the striped sports jerseys with ruffled halters made from knits. The neoprene footwear, sneakers are a nice union with the athliesure trend. The pieces aren’t for every girl, but they are for the girl thats on the move and has a love for color.

For fall/winter 2016, adidas’ premium sportswear line, SPEZIAL, takes cues from its archive. The brand takes iconic and innovative pieces from the past and modernizes them for a contemporary consumer. The stylish range features a selection of apparel, accessories and sneakers in a muted color palette of different shades of blue. Standouts include waterproof jackets, hoodies, beanies and the Bulhil SPZL hybrid sneaker, that features a mix of a Hawaiian sole and an upper inspired by the Freizeit series, while staying to the collection’s retro-influences-meets-modern aesthetic. The knitwear and outerwear are marked by the Mod Trefoil logo that was used in the first season of the line.

The Nike Footscape Woven becomes a key component for the fall wardrobe. There have been Rainbow and Linen color-ways in the past, but the classic lifestyle silhouette is gearing up for the colder months. The woven upper takes on a wool-like texture, with a woven detail overlay and sits atop the Footscape Motion sole unit. The look of the shoe is rounded off by the tonal leather heel tabs. These are available at both rime locations.

High end fashion houses have surrendered to the athleisure trend for the past seasons by integrating sneakers into their collections. One Luxury brand that have been creating chic sneakers since before the athleisure trend is Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo. The brand’s sneakers have been sought after by Upper East Siders and the cul de sac masses for years. Ferragamo is given the title as creator of the platform, for spring’17 the house blended the iconic platform with premium knitted uppers (a material that’s been dominating sneakers) for the footwear of the collection. The brand created a lush sneaker, that is street ready, as well as being statement pieces.

Beyoncé’s athleisure line caused a buzz with its debut earlier this year, now the musician has released a collection for the colder season. There are an infinite amount of crop tops, sweatshirt crop tops, turtleneck crop tops, crop tops with cut outs in the back and much more versions of the silhouette. Almost everything in the collection is stamped with the simple Ivy Park logo. Just as there are many versions of crop tops there are also different kinds of leggings, there are ankle length, capri and a short cycling silhouette. These different silhouettes of crop tops and leggings shows that Beyoncé is catering to different body types, displaying that just like there are endless options of crop tops and leggings there are also infinite body types that may prefer a fitted look and ones that would prefer a looser one. The use of denim on a jumpsuit, sweatshirt and sweatpants suggest that maybe Bey herself is over the clingy fabrics usually used, as well as a nice way for transitioning from gym to street. There is also a use of metallic silver, like the puffer jacket that is definitely a stand out of the range. It can thrown over a dress, jeans or even the Ivy Park wet suit for a night out. The sporty basics get a modern interpretation with camp print and color blocking, and although the pieces might not be the usual after-spin-class-brunch attire, they certainly are for that girl willing to make a statement at brunch, the oversized puffer jackets say enough.

Skateboarding has been a repeated source of inspiration for fashion. The lifestyle sport is currently having a trending moment. Hermés has been synonymous with luxury and sophistication, so to present the Maxi-Twilly, a new series of pure silk scarves in different versions, the Parisan brand went with the freshness skateboarding always brings to fashion. In the campaign video two girls wearing the iconic scarf on their heads, wrists, neck and shoulders, in their own free and stylish way, perform their skating tricks, exuding a lot of fun. The printed graphics also flow throughout the video, when you pay close attention you can notice the details from the brand on the skate decks and the girls slip ons. Hermés is one of the most iconic and classic fashion houses, by using the skater theme in the advert for the Maxi-Twilly scarves, they’re letting the consumer know that the brand can be young and cool, also inviting a completely new customer.

Athleisure continues to be a strong trend of the moment. adidas has brought the worlds of streetwear, performance gear and fashion together, with the Ultra Boost and NMD silhouettes, and on a larger scale the Kanye West collaboration. The brand’s latest line Z.N.E, fuses urban athletic style with a sports core. The line is designed using insight from professional athletes and their preparation activities, fusing lifestyle features into the creation of the collection. The collection features hoodies, zip jackets and track pants in different color-ways.The white color-way with black branding is clean and streamlined. Premium breathable fabrics are used to highten the design and performance of the pieces.